Restraining garment



March 26, 1963 R. M. GALANIS RESTRAINING GARMENT Filed March 2. 1961 INVTOR.

BY .6. w

United States Patent 3,082,764 RESTRAINING GARMENT Rosalie M. Gaianis, H38 W. 21st Place, Chicago, Ill. Filed Mar. 2, 1961, Ser. No. 92,916 12 Claims. (Cl. 128-133) This invention pertains to improvements in restraining garments of the type particularly well adapted for use in limiting certain movements of an arm or of the arms of the wearer.

More specifically stated this invention relates to improvements in restraining garments, particularly restraining garments for small or young children, and in its preferred embodiment comprises a sleeved jacket or gown, which permits the relatively free movement of the arms at the shoulders and the wrists of the wearer but very appreciably limits or restrains the bending of the elbows, whereby to prevent the wearer from reaching his or her hands or forearm to the face or other portions of the head.

Still more specificall stated this invention pertains to improvements in restraining garments which may, if desired, be worn in place of conventional bed jackets or gowns, and may also, when the restraining elements have been removed, be worn as a non-restraining or conventional type of bed jacket or gown.

It is the relatively common experience, particularly in hospitals, that in the post-operative treatment of young children who have had surgery or the like performed on the mouth, eyes, nose, ears, or other parts of the head, that such young children frequently attempt to remove the surgical dressings with resulting pain, danger of infection, and, sometimes, injury to the child. The practice of binding the arms or the tight application of splints to the arms of such a child, to prevent such actions on the part of the child undergoing such treatment, is time consuming for the doctors and nurses, is irritating to the child, and, due to the habits of the child or due to conditions associated with the illness of the child, frequently greatly increases sanitary problems. The need for frequently changin the clothing of young children for the purpose of various medical treatments, or for "other reasons, and the requirements regarding the comfort of the child, make it desirable to use non-irritating restraining means which may be easily and quickly applied and/or removed, which are comfortable, and Which may be easily cleaned. It is also desirable to employ restraining means which may not be readily removed by the child and which divert the attention of the child from the restraining aspect or restraining elements of the garment embodying such restraining means. It has been observed, that children, particularly young children, once having recognized an applied restraining device, invariably set about, by endless effort, to extract themselves from such device with the resultant production of conditions which are frequently detrimental to the child.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved restraining garment of the type adapted to restrain certain movements of the limbs of the body, such as the arms, particularly the forearms; which will prevent the wearer from reaching the hands to his or her head; which may be easily and quickly applied to and/or removed from the wearer; which may be easily cleaned and sterilized; which may be easily and inexpensively produced; which may be worn without physical irritation, which is automatically maintained in proper operative restraining position at all times irrespective of the movements of the arms of the wearer and in any position of the body; which encases the restraining elements in a concealed and inconspicuous arrangement not readily observable by the wearer; which permits the easy and quick Patented Mar. 26, 1953 application or removal of the restraining elements from the restraining garment; which includes releasable fastener means for releasably locking the restraining element in sleeve portions of the garment in an adjustable arrangement; and which includes in the restraining garment such configurations of overlapping parts as to effectively produce the appearance of a conventional garment of similar design.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved restraining device, preferably in the form of a garment; which may be produced in sizes as required for children of different ages, and which will permit the relatively free movement of the arms of the wearer at the shoulders and wrists with, however, a very appreciable limitation of the bending of the elbow but without unduly otherwise hindering the normal movements of the arms in areas appreciably removed from the head of the wearer.

An improved restraining garment embodying the various new, novel and useful features of this invention, whereby to attain the foregoing objectives, possesses the advantages of: simplicity of construction; relative inexpensiveness; ease of cleaning and sterilizing; non-irritation to the wearer; relative inconspicuousness of the restraining elements; adjustability of sleeve length for accommodation of restraining elements of different lengths; effective and non-irritating restraint of bending movement of the elbow without substantially interfering with the movement of the arms at the shoulders or the movement of the wrists; inconspicuous positioning, with respect to the wearer, of fasteners for retaining the garment on the wearer and for retaining the restraining elements in operative position for effectively preventing the wearer from applying hands or forearms to any portion of the head; automatic maintenance of the restraining elements in operative position on the arms of the wearer irrespective of any movement of the arms or of the body; complete concealment of the restraining elements; and the prevention of the child from extracting itself from the restraining garment or from extracting an arm from a restraining sleeve.

The foregoing and other objectives, important new, novel and useful features and advantages of this invention will become more apparent and be more easily understood upon examination of the following description thereof and the accompanying drawings and appended claims. It should, however, be remembered that, without desire of limitation, the invention will be described and illustrated as the preferred embodiment of the invention in an arm restraining garment or jacket for a young child. Certain changes and variations in the invention may, upon review of this application suggest themselves to those skilled in the pertinent arts, which changes may, however, not depart from the spirit of this invention and may come within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an illustrative, perspective view, showing a restraining jacket which embodies the invention, as worn by a small child, and also illustrates the position of the restraining sleeve with respect to the wrists and hands of the child;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view of one variant of the invention as embodied in a garment, illustrating, by dotted lines, the position of the restraining elements with respect to the fully extended right hand sleeve of the garment before the sleeve is folded back over the restraining element, and showing the left hand sleeve of the garment folded back over the restraining element in slightly adjusted operative position within the folded back or partially inverted left hand sleeve, and also showing, by dotted lines, what would be the extended position of the left hand sleeve of the garment;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to that shown in FIGURE 2, of another varient of the invention wherein the cuff ends of the restraining sleeves of the garment are of different configuration than that shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a rear elevational view of the body portion of the garments shown in FIGURES 2 and 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary, longitudinal, elevational view, partially in broken away section of a portion of a shoulder and a portion of a sleeve of the improved garment of the type shown in FIGURE 3, showing the restraining element in operative position in the folded sleeve and also showing the fully extended position of the sleeve in dotted lines;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken alon the line 66 of FIGURE and FIGURE 7 is a longitudinal, sectional view showing a modified form of the restraining element.

Referring to the drawings, in which like elements are identified by like numerals, 10 represents generally the main body receiving or encasing portion of a jacket-like or gown-like garment, preferably made of a tough and substantially non-stretching cloth and adapted to fit reasonably closely about the upper portion of the torso of the wearer, and having a front panel portion 11 and a back panel portion 12. A somewhat circular neck opening in the upper end of the garment 10 is defined by an encompassing seam 13, stitched to the main body portion of the garment. The neck opening defined by the neck encircling seam 13 is of such size as to fit the neck of the wearer with reasonable closeness. A seam 14 defines the lower extremity of the garment. Opposed and upwardly and inwardly inclined arm holes are provided in the upper side portions of the garment and respectively extend upwardly and inwardly from immediately below the armpit areas of the wearer to slightly inwardly of the adjacent side of the neck, for receiving the sleeves '15 which have their respective inner ends, which are complementary to the associated arm hole in garment 10, stitched thereto at 16.

Sleeves 15 are each of a substantially straight tubular construction and of substantially uniform width throughout, becoming only slightly broader at the culf end, and of a length appreciably longer than the arm of the wearer. Preferably each sleeve 15 is of such length that when partially inverted back or doubled back or folded back upon itself, the outer or cuff end 17 of the sleeve extends up to or substantially up to the neck opening defined by seam 13 and overlaps the top or crest of the shoulder portion of garment 10.

To enable the free or outer or cuff end of sleeve 15 to be thus lapped over the shoulder portion of garment 10 when sleeve -15 is folded back over itself as above described, the free or outer end of sleeve 15 is cut at a bias to provide the elongated bias opening 18 as shown in FIGURE 2. The bias cut of opening 18 is such that when sleeve 15 is folded back upon itself bias cut of opening 18 permits the outer end of sleeve 15 to be placed in a position to substantially overlie or closely approximate the line of stitching 16 which joins the sleeve 15 to the body portion 10 of the garmet. With the end of sleeve 15 thus folded back, the fold edge of sleeve 15 is positioned slightly inwardly of the wrist of the wearer. A reinforcing cuff 20, which may be formed of an overlapped portion of the sleeve cloth, is provided at the free end of the sleeve 15, and may be stitched thereto at 21, and also stitched at 22 to form a reinforcing seam at 22.

Preliminary to the folding back or partial inverting back of sleeve 15, a suitable length of tubular, substantially rigid, reinforcing material 23, as for example, a length of cardboard tubing or plastic tubing of suitable inner diameter and weight and rigidity, is first telescoped over the extended sleeve 15 with the inner end of tube 23 extending up into the armpit area, closely adjacent to the body of the wearer at the lower end of stitching 16, and with the outer end of element 23 extending to the position of sleeve fold line 19, thus locking element 23 in posi- 4 tion and completely and inconspicuously cncasing element 23 inside of the overlapped portions of sleeve 15.

To secure the overlapped portions of sleeve 15 in overlapped position, thus maintaining the stiffening element or restraining element 23 in proper operative position in folded sleeve 15, a plurality of releasable or separable fasteners, for example, three snap fasteners 24, are provided in a straight row extending from the neck opening seam 13 outwardly toward the adjacent sleeve 15 along the crest or top of the shoulder portion of the garment 10. A parallel row of two similar fasteners 25 is provided in the armpit portion of the garment at the locus of the juncture between the sleeve 15 and the body 10 of the garment. The outer end of the sleeve 15 is provided with the complementary or coacting portions 26 and 27 respectively of the snaps 24 and 25, with one less snap section in each of the complementary or coacting portions 26 and 27 than used in the associated rows of snap fasteners 24 and 25. In each instance, the snap fastener sections or portions 26 and 27 are so positioned on sleeve 15 so that when sleeve 15 has been folded back as described, complementary or coacting sections of the fasteners 26 and 27 may be releasably secured to the corresponding and coacting fastener sections 24 and 25. The use of a plurality of fastener sections 24 and 25 permits the slight adjustment of the length of the folded sleeve 15 as shown in FIGURE 2, whereby to permit the use of restraining elements 23 of slightly greater or lesser length, whereby to more appropriately fit the length of the arm of an individual wearer.

Rear panel 12 of the garment is provided with an opening which may extend the entire length of the garment along the vertical central portion of panel 12. Such opening is defined by overlapping seam portions 28 and 29,

secured together, as by releasable or separable coacting snap fasteners 30 and 31. The single row of fastener sections 30 is carried by the outer and narrower seam 28 while the wider seam 29 carries a double row of complementary snap fastener sections 31, whereby to enable the slight adjustment of the body size of the garment 10 by the selection of the appropriate row of fastener elements 31.

The variant of the invention shown in FIGURE 3, differs from that shown in FIGURE 2, in that the outer end of each sleeve v15' is provided with a biased cut opening 32 defined by seams 33 and 34. Seams 33 and 34 are of such configuration that when folded back into operative position along the shoulder portion of the garment, as shown in the solid line representation of the left hand sleeve of FIGURE 3, seam 33 overlies the adjacent portions of the sleeve hole stitching 16, and the seam 34 overlies the adjacent part of the neck hole seam 13, whereby to produce an inconspicuous overlapping or foldedback arrangement. In other respects the variants of the invention as shown in FIGURE 2, and FIGURE 3, are substantially the same and function in the same manner.

FIGURE 7 illustrates a variant of the rigid and substantially cylindrical or restraining member 23 which is provided with ventilation perforations or apertures 35 and which is also provided at its opposite ends with protective beads 35 and 37. The inner or shoulder end of the restraining element 23 of FIGURE 7, as defined by the bead 37, is shown to be such a configuration as to permit the lower inner portion of that element 23 to be seated in the armpit of the wearer while the upper portion thereof slightly overlaps the outer shoulder portion of the wearer, thus providing an arrangement which is adapted to provide an increased restraint of the movement of the arm of the wearer.

In the event that the restraining elements 23 are formed to have parallel ends perpendicular to the axis of the respective element 23, as illustrated by the dotted lines of FIGURES 2 and 3, and to be of maximum r' length, it may then be desirable not to use the coacting fasteners 25 and 27 in the armpit portions of the garment, depending, of course, upon the closeness of the fit of the garment, particularly when the tube 23 is of such a length as to tend to make it difficult to close fasteners 25 and 27. In such instances it would be sufficient to use only the fasteners 24 and 26 on the top of the shoulders. Fasteners 25 and 27 may be easily closed when using tubes 23 which extend only from the fasteners 25 to the sleeve folds 19. However, in the event that it is desired to use an element 23 of maximum length and with straight and parallel ends perpendicular to the axis of tube 23, so that the end of the tube 23 adjacent the body of the wearer fits snugly into the armpit, and to also be able to close the associated fasteners 25 and 27, then it is only necessary to notch the inner edge of tube 23 as shown at 38 in FIGURE 5, thereby enabling the closing of the severable snap fasteners 25 and 27 through the notch 38. Such an arrangement, under such conditions, will permit the end of tube 23 to engage the body of the wearer in the locus of the armpit, irrespective of the possible close fit of the garment.

In the use of the improved restraining garment, the size is selected so that the body portion of the garment fits comfortably and with reasonable closeness over the chest and over the back and about the shoulders of the wearer, with the neck opening comfortably fitted closely about the neck of the wearer. Such a fit will prevent a young wearer from extracting an arm from a sleeve or from slipping the garment off over the head. Obviously, the proportions of the garment must be such as to fit the individual wearer. However, for a young child of two or three years of age, the restraining elements may be formed of relatively light cardboard tubes of the type frequently used as holders for adhesive plaster. In such instance the restraining elements may have inner diameters of approximately three inches and be eight to nine inches long. Such tubes, when fitted into the overlapped sleeves 15, will extend from the armpits of such a young wearer substantially down to the wrists, permitting substantially free movement of the shoulders and wrists and slight bending of the elbows, but completely prevent ing the child from reaching its head with its hands or forearms. The improved gown or jacket, when thus assembled, as above described, with such restraining elements 23, may be easily and quickly applied to or removed from the wearer by simply opening the fasteners 30 and 31 in theback portion of the garment and then proceeding as with the application or removal of an ordinary gown or jacket, merely slipping the hands through the restraining sleeves. The restraining tubes 23 may be easily removed from garment it by merely unfastening the severable fasteners used to maintain the sleeves in folded condition, straightening the sleeves to full length, and then sliding tubes 23 from the sleeves.

Although the invention has been particularly described as embodied in a jacket-type of garment, it may obviously be embodied in other forms of garments, as for example, a gown, or a more abbreviated form of garment adapted to merely provide a satisfactory basis for retaining the folded back or partially inverted restraining sleeves in operative position, extending from the armpits substantially to the wrists of the wearer in all possible positions of movement of the arms and of the body of the wearer.

From the foregoing description of this invention and from the accompanying drawings, it will be apparent that this invention realizes the introductorily enumerated objectives respecting the improved restraining garment. It will similarly be apparent that the invention possesses the hereinbefore listed advantages and provides new, novel and useful improvements in restraining garments.

Having thus described and illustrated the preferred embodiments of this invention, the invention is not to be interpreted as being restricted to the specifically illustrated and described embodiments, as set forth in the drawings and as hereinbefore described, except insofar as is necessitated by the appended claims and the disclosures of the prior art.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

1. A unitary restraining garment, comprising, in combination, a shoulder portion adapted to closely encase the shoulder of a wearer and also adapted to closely encircle the neck of a wearer, a sleeve extending from said shoulder portion and adapted to be inverted back upon itself to provide overlapping portions of said sleeve, an elongated restraining element adapted to encircle the sleeved arm of a wearer, said restraining element being releasably encased intermediate overlapping portions of said sleeve when said sleeve is inverted back upon itself, said restraining element being of such length that when encased intermediate overlapping portions of said sleeve the lower portion of the inner end of said re straining element is adapted to be maintained close to the adjacent side of and in the armpit of a wearer by said overlapped sleeve when thus encasing said restraining element while permitting the free pivoting in all directions at the shoulder of the thus encased arm of the wearer, and the outer end of said restraining element being adapted to be maintained in close proximity to the wrist of a wearer by said overlapped sleeve when thus encasing said restraining element, the free end of said sleeve prior to said inversion being of such configuration and of such construction and arrangement that the upper portion of the free end thereof is adapted to extend over the top of a shoulder of a wearer close to the neck of a wearer and the lower portion of said free end is adapted to extend through the armpit of a wearer when said sleeve is partially inverted back upon itself, and severable and coacting fasteners adapted for use in fastening the free end of said sleeve to the top of said shoulder portion close to the neck of a wearer.

2. A garment according to claim 1, having an armpit portion at the locus of juncture between the body portion of the garment and the lower and inner end of a sleeve and having a body portion and having a seam means joining one end of said sleeve and said shoulder portion to said body portion and extending from the neck opening in the garment to the armpit portion of the garment, said seam means substantially underlying the free end of the partially inverted portion of said sleeve.

3. A garment according to claim 2, wherein said sleeve is provided at the extreme ends of the underside of said sleeve with coacting and separable fasteners for fastening together the overlapped ends of said sleeve in the armpit portion of the wearer.

4. In a unitary restraining garment, an upper body encasing portion adapted to be fitted closely about the shoulders of a wearer and having a neck opening adapted to closely encircle the neck of a wearer and having armholes, outwardly extending sleeves secured to said body encasing portion at said armholes, each of said sleeves being thus secured by a seam means extending from the lower portion of the armhole upwardly into said neck opening and at least one of said sleeves having its outer end inverted over its inner end, each sleeve being provided with an edge defining its outer end, said edge being of a configuration adapted to overlie the said seam means joining the respective sleeve to said body encasing portion upon the inversion of the outer end of said sleeve over the inner end of said sleeve.

5. A garment according to claim 4, wherein coacting and separable securing means are provided on the top of the shoulder portions of said garment close to the neck opening in said garment and on the portions of said sleeves which overlie said securing means on the top of the shoulder portions upon said partial inversion of said sleeves.

6. A garment according to claim 5, wherein tubular restraining elements are releasably encased respectively within the inverted portions of each of said sleeves.

7. A garment according to claim 6, wherein the lower inner end of the sleeve secured to said body encasing portion at the armhole in the body encasing portion of the garment comprises part of an armpit portion of the garment and wherein coacting and separable securing means are provided in the armpit portions of said garment and on the portion of said sleeves which are positioned immediately outwardly of said securing means at the armpit portions of said garment upon said partial inversion of said sleeves, and wherein each of said restraining elements extends respectively from the coacting securing means in the armpit portion of a sleeve to the opposite end of the inverted portion of the sleeve wherein said restraining element is encased.

8. A garment according to claim 7, wherein a separate row of said securing means is provided on the top of each of said shoulder portions and a row of said securing means is provided in each of said armpit portions, each of such rows of securing means being straight and extending outwardly from said body encasing portion toward the outer end of the adjacent sleeve, whereby to permit selective fastening of the separable securing means.

9. A unitary restraining garment, comprising in combination, a main body portion adapted to closely encase the upper portion of the torso of a wearer and having a shoulder portion adapted to closely encircle the neck of a wearer, a sleeve, a tubular stiffening element slipped over the inner portion of said sleeve and having one end thereof adjacent the adjoining shoulder portion of the garment, said sleeve at the free end thereof and said shoulder portion of said garment at the top thereof which is adapted to lie close to the neck of a wearer being provided with releasable and coacting fastener means, whereby the outer portion of said sleeve may be inverted and drawn over the inner portion of said sleeve and drawn over said stiffening element to releasably encase said stiffening element and whereby said fastener means may be releasably secured together to releasably fasten the free end of said sleeve to said shoulder portion at the top of said shoulder portion.

10. A unitary restraining garment, comprising, in combination, a main body portion adapted to closely encase the upper portion of the torso of a wearer and having a shoulder portion adapted to closely encircle the neck of a wearer, an elongated sleeve fixed to said shoulder portion and having the outer portion of said sleeve inverted back over the inner portion of said sleeve, a tubular restraining means slipped over the inner portion of the partially inverted sleeve and releasably encased by the inverted outer portion of said sleeve, said sleeve and said shoulder portion of said garment being provided with coacting and separable fastener means adjacent the free end of said sleeve and on the top of said shoulder portion adapted to overlie a shoulder of a wearer close to the neck of a wearer, whereby the inverted outer portion of said sleeve may be releasably fastened to said shoulder portion at the top of said shoulder portion.

11. A restraining garment according to claim 10, wherein said restraining means is of such construction and arrangement at the inner top end thereof adjacent said body portion of said garment as to adapt said restraining means to be complementary to the adjacent surface of the shoulder of a wearer and also adapt said rcstraining means to partially overlap the shoulder of the wearer and to be further so constructed and arranged at the inner lower end thereof as to adapt said inner lower end of said restraining means to extend through the armpit of a wearer.

12. A restraining garment according to claim 10, having a longitudinally disposed opening in the central portion of the back of said garment, and separable and coacting fastener means secured to said garment for closing said opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 686,338 Ready Nov. 12, 1901 1,796,869 Horwitz Mar. 17, 1931 2,828,738 Strelakos Apr. 1, 1958 

4. IN A UNITARY RESTRAINING GARMENT, AN UPPER BODY ENCASING PORTION ADAPTED TO BE FITTED CLOSELY ABOUT THE SHOULDERS OF A WEARER AND HAVING A NECK OPENING ADAPTED TO CLOSELY ENCIRCLE THE NECK OF A WEARER AND HAVING ARMHOLES, OUTWARDLY EXTENDING SLEEVES SECURED TO SAID BODY ENCASING PORTION AT SAID ARMHOLES, EACH OF SAID SLEEVES BEING THUS SECURED BY A SEAM MEANS EXTENDING FROM THE LOWER PORTION OF THE ARMHOLE UPWARDLY INTO SAID NECK OPENING AND AT LEAST ONE OF SAID SLEEVES HAVING ITS OUTER END INVERTED OVER ITS INNER END, EACH SLEEVE BEING PROVIDED WITH AN EDGE DEFINING ITS OUTER END, SAID EDGE BEING OF A CONFIGURATION ADAPTED TO OVERLIE THE SAID SEAM MEANS JOINING THE RESPECTIVE SLEEVE TO SAID BODY ENCASING PORTION UPON THE INVERSION OF THE OUTER END OF SAID SLEEVE OVER THE INNER END OF SAID SLEEVE. 